Sunday, August 11, 2013

US Education Secretary Arne Duncan famously stated that Katrina was the best thing to happen to education in New Orleans. But hey, you can't just flood the whole country. First of all, even if you have a very important job like Arne does, you still don't get power over time, space, and nature.

Unfair though that is, you have to deal with it. There has to be another way. After all, New Orleans proved a perfect opportunity to close down virtually the entire public school system and replace it with charters. This is a bonanza for your BFFs who heretofore had not been making a dime from education. Sure they aren't really doing very well. But that's not really the point, is it?

Arne knows a lot about education. After all, he's never been a teacher, so he's unencumbered by the special interests and prejudices that come with that job. However, he did run the Chicago school system. While it's true his program failed utterly, that's not the point either. If we can't simply produce hurricanes to improve education, how can we help the entire country make our BFFs more wealthy like we did in Chicago and New Orleans?

Clearly, this Common Core stuff is a bonanza. If we can introduce tests for which students are unprepared, if we make people who don't even speak English take them, if we fail to allow for poverty, handicaps, or learning difficulties, we can cause an enormous drop in test scores. Once we reach a 70% failure rate, it will be a true crisis and we can start closing schools even in affluent districts. Eva Moskowitz and Geoffrey Canada can come riding to the rescue, and if they fail, what's the dif? The unions will be gone and the money we wasted on teachers will now be invested soundly in the bank accounts of zillionaires.

Make no mistake, this is classic shock doctrine. You don't see corporate tools like Joel Klein writing columns praising massive failure every day. Arne Duncan doesn't often make trips to New York to endorse it either. When we see stats like these, guys like this are usually jumping up and down demanding we close schools and fire teachers.

But now it's a good thing. And if things stay this good, the only solution will be closing schools and firing teachers. Because that is the goal of Duncan, Gates, Klein, Broad and the Walmarts. Make no mistake--unions, to them, are the Great Satan and must be eradicated. Common Core is a means toward that end.

E4E doesn't support it because it's good for children and teachers. E4E supports it because Gates supports it and he gives them millions.

Why the AFT and UFT support it I have no idea. But I don't support it. If you love teaching, if you love your students, if you don't think they should be subject to massive failure, if you think neighborhoods deserve neighborhood schools, then you won't support it either. And you'll spread the word.

My kid will not be taking Common Core tests. Hopefully yours won't either, and you'll tell your friends, your family, and your world to opt out.

US Education Secretary Arne Duncan famously stated that Katrina was the best thing to happen to education in New Orleans. But hey, you can't just flood the whole country. First of all, even if you have a very important job like Arne does, you still don't get power over time, space, and nature.

Unfair though that is, you have to deal with it. There has to be another way. After all, New Orleans proved a perfect opportunity to close down virtually the entire public school system and replace it with charters. This is a bonanza for your BFFs who heretofore had not been making a dime from education. Sure they aren't really doing very well. But that's not really the point, is it?

Arne knows a lot about education. After all, he's never been a teacher, so he's unencumbered by the special interests and prejudices that come with that job. However, he did run the Chicago school system. While it's true his program failed utterly, that's not the point either. If we can't simply produce hurricanes to improve education, how can we help the entire country make our BFFs more wealthy like we did in Chicago and New Orleans?

Clearly, this Common Core stuff is a bonanza. If we can introduce tests for which students are unprepared, if we make people who don't even speak English take them, if we fail to allow for poverty, handicaps, or learning difficulties, we can cause an enormous drop in test scores. Once we reach a 70% failure rate, it will be a true crisis and we can start closing schools even in affluent districts. Eva Moskowitz and Geoffrey Canada can come riding to the rescue, and if they fail, what's the dif? The unions will be gone and the money we wasted on teachers will now be invested soundly in the bank accounts of zillionaires.

Make no mistake, this is classic shock doctrine. You don't see corporate tools like Joel Klein writing columns praising massive failure every day. Arne Duncan doesn't often make trips to New York to endorse it either. When we see stats like these, guys like this are usually jumping up and down demanding we close schools and fire teachers.

But now it's a good thing. And if things stay this good, the only solution will be closing schools and firing teachers. Because that is the goal of Duncan, Gates, Klein, Broad and the Walmarts. Make no mistake--unions, to them, are the Great Satan and must be eradicated. Common Core is a means toward that end.

E4E doesn't support it because it's good for children and teachers. E4E supports it because Gates supports it and he gives them millions.

Why the AFT and UFT support it I have no idea. But I don't support it. If you love teaching, if you love your students, if you don't think they should be subject to massive failure, if you think neighborhoods deserve neighborhood schools, then you won't support it either. And you'll spread the word.

My kid will not be taking Common Core tests. Hopefully yours won't either, and you'll tell your friends, your family, and your world to opt out.

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Views expressed herein are solely those of the author or authors, and do not reflect views of my employers, the United Federation of Teachers, or any UFT union caucus.

Stories herein containing unnamed or invented characters are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.